Pretty new sewing space

I have always been sheepish about sharing pictures of my sewing space, mainly because it wasn’t very pretty. (I tend to be kind of a messy sewer.) I have a spot in our basement where I keep my crapola stash and supplies, but I prefered to migrate my machine and whatever current project I was working on to the kitchen table so that I could be where the action was. It was never a pretty sight and clearing the table every night so we could eat, resulted in a pile of my stuff on the floor next to the kitchen table. Not a good look. And frequently my children’s friends would comment to my kids that their mom sure sewed A LOT.

This past fall I had one of those clever “a-hah” moments – which tend to be rare, so it was especially exciting. Our house happens to have a dining room open off the front room, which is the one room I try to keep tidy. A dining room was nice in theory, but we rarely use it for dining – even when we have people over. The only thing I consistently used that room for was photography, since it has two windows that face south and west with the best light in our house.

So my “a-hah” moment came when I finally realized that we could hang doors between the front room and the dining room (creating the ability to close-off the back room and thereby, hide my messes) and I could move my sewing machine in there. It has been fantastic! I’m right off the kitchen so I’m still where the action is, but it’s so nice to have a place to keep the machine set up, and to not have to re-clear the kitchen table every night. (I know what some of you are thinking, “Duh! What took you so long?!”)

We also did some painting before we made all the switcheroo and hauling fabric into the dining room. Our walls were a really brown-ish taupe and ready for an update. We ended up painting them blue and it is SO pretty and refreshing. It took me forever to pick the paint and then, I’ll admit, a little while longer to feel at peace about the shade of blue. (Sherwin-Williams Tidewater) I am the WORST about making those kind of decisions.

One other thing happened to spur me on to finally just make a commitment and paint. We had a leak in the bathroom above our front room which resulted in water dripping through the front-room ceiling. Which, ironically started happening the day I was leaving to teach at the Riley Blake fabric fest in Las Vegas. Of course. Ugh. I had no choice but to walk out the door to catch my flight with water dripping through a hole in my ceiling! (Ahh, such a glamorous life…) The one good thing about having to rip out part of your ceiling and repair it, is that it forces you to finally make a decision about paint…

So, three cheers for a fresh paint job and a simple fix like hanging some doors so that I could shut off this room and make it a usable space. We kept the refurbished china hutch in the room as it provides good storage and the table in the room so that things can be easily cleared and the room could be used for actual dining, if needed. But it’s sure getting a lot more use now and not just with my sewing. I put the kids craft supplies in another corner in the room opposite the china cabinet (not pretty at the moment, therefore, not photographed) and I love it when they come in and sit at the table while I sew and work on Perler beads or homework and doing things like sing songs from the Frozen soundtrack. I also LOVE having my design wall right next to my machine! It’s so handy.

To increase storage, I added an Ikea Hemnes Dresser which looks pretty and can hold projects while I’m working on them, helping to decrease the clutter. I love it! (And I’m proud to say, I even assembled it myself one weekend while my husband was out of town. Thank you.) Finishing the modern colorwheel dresden wall hanging was the perfect finish for this room. I’m so excited about how things turned out! Plus, it’s fun to have a pretty place to set up Big Bertha (the Bernina 710) and give her the space she needs.

I’d like to make a few more mini’s to hang on the walls. Right now I just have this little scrap-bag mini. Here’s a close up. (This scrappy little mini-quilt project is in the latest issue of Fat Quarterly online magazine – issue 16.)

I may take forever to finally get there, but it sure feels good to get this far. Now on to the rest of the house…could someone please come hold my hand and help me make decisions? Hopefully without a leaky upstairs bathroom to finally get me to take action.

68 Comments

Congratulations on your new space. I know how it feels to have to pack away the sewing machine at the end of the day. I&#39;m working on getting my sewing space set up. I like how you use the Ikea drawers to store your projects. I&#39;ve been trying to come up with some ideas and I&#39;m liking yours best so far. Thanks for sharing. One room down so the next one shouldn&#39;t be as difficult.

Your new sewing space is beautiful. There&#39;s nothing like creating in a nice space. I used to have to move sewing projects off the table to serve dinner each night. (What? You want to eat again? I just fed you yesterday!) I now have a dedicated sewing room (kids are grown and gone) and it is a real treat to be able to leave projects out. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

What a great new space! Love your new mini.<br /><br />I&#39;ve just switched out my guest room for my sewing room as I decided I preferred that room better. We pulled out the carpet and installed floor boards, and painted. Now we&#39;re working on putting my old sewing room back together to become the new guest room… and I think I want my old sewing room back!! There&#39;s something about

I love your new &quot;clean&quot; look space with lots of light. I&#39;m moving my space around in the same room to get more light. I like your work and would love to know which Bernina that is you have there, I clicked on the picture but even blown up I can&#39;t make out which model it is. Thanks, Julietwood191@gmail.com

Good question – I&#39;ll go add that info to the post. It&#39;s a Bernina 710 and it is dreamy! I have it on loan from Bernina for a year, but I&#39;m thinking I may never be able to go back to my 1979 Bernina Sport. 😉

Brilliant! What a lovely space, and soooo much more useful than an &quot;extra&quot; dining room. My mom has always had houses with a formal dining room and I&#39;ve always thought &quot;oooooh, if that were mine….&quot; :). Way to go making things right, Amy!

That looks so beautiful! Unfortunately, our house doesn&#39;t have a dining room I could convert so I&#39;m still sewing at the kitchen table. And putting everything away so we can eat at the table like civilized people. Hmmm…the spare room doesn&#39;t get a lot of use. Wonder when I can turn that into my sewing room.

What a lovely place to create. I did the same thing years ago–our &quot;living&quot; room was the room that we never lived in. It is the first thing you see when you walk into our house. I haven&#39;t shut it off with doors and I decided not to even apologize for its cluttered state. It is one of the largest rooms and has good lighting. My husband has been super supportive and never ever

It&#39;s beautiful. I can&#39;t wait till my kids are old enough that they can sit and work on stuff while I sew. For now it is strictly nap-time sewing only (unless I get desperate, then it is &quot;Elmo&#39;s World&quot; and &quot;Blues Clues&quot; sewing). It must be really nice to sit down and work whenever you get a minute and still be a part of what is going on. 🙂

Yep, I totally turned out &quot;formal&quot; (never used) living and dining rooms into studio spaces. It was totally worth it, I pay tons of dollars for this place, why in the world wouldn&#39;t I use the space exactly how I want? 🙂 Mine doesn&#39;t close off as neatly as yours – it sits right at the front door. I don&#39;t care though – folks who visit have to love me as I am. Crazy and all! 🙂

A sewing space is just what we all need. Congrats on the &quot;ground breaking&quot; and the color and natural light are perfect for picking out fabrics! Although I don&#39;t know how you sew with kids in the room LOL The chatter inhibits me from doing quilt math!

Cute! What a great idea to add it right there in a room that has been slightly used! It totally makes sense and I bet it will the best room ever 😉 We are currently trying to find a new home and at the top of the list is a bigger sewing room. I am a little spoiled already because I do have a good room and it is big because I have my long-arm in there but I need one bigger so I can have some

Congratulations on your new sewing room. It looks so bright and pretty. I am lucky enough to have my own room in the house but it&#39;s in the basement so I know what you mean about not always being part of the action. Your string quilt looks amazing and your mini is SO beautiful. I need to make one.

Good for you turning that dining room into your private area for sewing. I don&#39;t know too many people who do use a dining room these days. Unfortunately my sewing area is in the guest room. Which is OK until company comes to visit and then I have to do like you did in the kitchen…clean up and move out until company leaves. BTW…thanks for the info on Fat Quarterly. I signed up tonight and

wonderful space!! You are going to be so more productive-if that&#39;s possible! Isn&#39;t amazing how when an &quot;aha&quot; moment hits the next thought is why didn&#39;t I think of that eons ago?? I just did it myself with the furniture arrangement in my sewing space—so much more room now—how did I miss it. Love the blue paint too–which I think is one of the hardest decisions to make

Your space to create is so fun and tidy I may add ! :). Question for you, I recently relocated my space also from &quot;the dungeon &quot; to an unused bonus room above our garage that my husband redid for me. It&#39;s beyond amazing! I am in a quandary about my design wall and I see yours and really like the simplicity of it. Did you put grommets ( or something like it) through flannel and

Amy your new sewing space is so bright and happy! Such a fantastic idea to hang doors to close it off. I think your family is like most of us nowadays and rarely use the dining room for actual dining 🙂 Great way to repurpose it for something you love and will use regularly.<br />Amanda

Yes….duh!;) I also wonder if I&#39;ll want to sew in my upstairs sewing room once our house is finished as I sew at the kitchen table now!:)<br /><br />Um….you could put my little &quot;apple&quot; mini next to your scrappy mini and then I would always be looking over your shoulder!:) xo

Good for you! I designed an area in our daughters&#39; bedroom (after she graduated, found a job and moved) that I absolutely love. I exhale a little every time I walk in. It is filled with fabric, family photos, my Bose sound machine and fresh flowers. The only items I purchased were 2 new tables for my machine and cutting fabric. It&#39;s so nice to have your own &quot;nest&quot;. Your

Hooray for new sewing rooms!! I too just moved up from the depths of the basement into the LIGHT. INTO THE LIGHT! What a wonderful day! I am also working on making my space into a fun little sewing room. I&#39;ve less space than in the basement, but it&#39;s mine and it&#39;s bright. Did I mention I can see DAYLIGHT?!?!?!

Hi Amy! I&#39;m just catching up on your cute blog! I loved your post about Quilt Bliss and I LOVE your new sewing room. Yay for you!!! It&#39;s really cute and I love the paint color. And you&#39;ve inspired me to make some more quilt minis!<br /><br />Have a great day!<br /><br />Amber!<br /><br />PS. It was fun seeing you at Quilt Bliss. Hope we can do it again sometime!<br />

Great Room! Our sewing rooms could almost be twins 1) if mine actually was finished being set up for sewing (the kitchen table is still the hot spot, with things relegated to the end of the table and floor as needed) and 2) it actually had that lovely doors open to the kitchen feature yours boasts. Other than that, mine too, had a run in with an upstairs bathroom calamity, and Tidewater blue

Search

Looking for Something?

My Patterns

All reviews are my own opinions and I write all of my own posts unless specifically clarified. I occasionally receive free fabric, books, or notions in exchange for posting an honest review.

All photos and content are my own unless clearly noted. I love when people link to or pin my content, only please cite the original post. Please do not reproduce or publish copies of my patterns and tutorials, but feel free to share the link to them!